Roy Glashan's Library
Non sibi sed omnibus
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As published in
The Weekly Mail, Wales, 2 May 1903
This e-book edition: Roy Glashan's Library, 2024
Version Date: 2024-12-01

Produced by Paul Moulder and Roy Glashan

All content added by RGL is proprietary and protected by copyright.



MAJOR CLAYTON, of the 10th native infantry, India, had periled his life 100 times over in fighting dacoits and capturing thugs, and there were marks to his credit in other respects, but he had one fault that was amazing to his superiors and threatened his future.

The major would argue and reason with any man when sober. When he had taken a glass too much all the arguments in the world would not move him. If he had said that a daum was a shako he would have stuck to it even to the point of throwing up his commission.

He once reported to military headquarters that a certain reservoir held 1,000,000 gallons of water. It was found the quantity was 2,000,000 gallons, but the major refused to revise his report even when hints were thrown out that he might lose his commission.

The 10th was stationed at Kurnool when a native sergeant was struck down by a tiger and carried off to the jungle. In the dusk of evening the tiger advanced across open fields to the outskirts of the camp. Two men saw the sergeant attacked and borne away, and, of course, there was a great deal of talk over the incident.

It happened that Major Clayton had been drinking enough to arouse his spirit of obstinacy, and he at once declared that the men who reported the case had lied.

What the major said when tight he always backed up when sober. No matter how drunk he got, he always clearly remembered the subjects of conversation. Next day after his boast he made ready to carry it out.

He was in command at the post, and there was no superior to order him. The subordinate officers, individually and collectively, appealed to him not to expose his life to such a peril, but he was firm as a rock.

Kurnool is near the foothills of the Eastern mountains, in the province of Madras, and tigers were as plentiful in the jungles as dogs in the street. In that same year the Civil Service reported 55 people as having been killed by tigers.

A detail of fifteen men was sent out a distance of four miles to cut a path and make a little clearing, and before nightfall Major Clayton rode to the spot. He had no weapons of defence and no tent. He simply proposed to sit at the foot of a tree all night and take his chance.

It is still looked upon in India as the biggest fool thing ever indulged in by a white man. Aside from tigers, the jungle was infested with panthers, hyenas, and cobras, and there did not seem to be one chance in 10,000 that the major would come off with his life.

He did though. He not only passed one night in the jungle, but three nights, and he came out without a scratch. He admitted that tigers and panthers had prowled about within a few yards of him, and that he had fought hyenas with a club, but he was inclined to hold the situation in contempt.

Unfortunately for Major Clayton, the papers published the details of his daring feat, and the brigadier at Mysore thus became acquainted with them. He forwarded a sharp reprimand, backed by a threat, and the pig-headed major defended his position in a report.

In the course of a couple of weeks he got the alternative of handing in his resignation or of being brought to court-martial, and he sent in his papers. He had not been clear of the service a week when his death occurred.

On the great highway running from Kurnool to Bellary, Cuddopah, and Mysore, as on other highways of India, there are Government bungalows for the use of travellers. Major Clayton had started to ride to Bellary, and at midnight took up his quarters in a bungalow. He had a servant with him, and there were several other travellers and their servants.

It was a bright moonlight night, and after the evening meal the major and four other men, all of whom were civilians and acquainted with his case, sat on the veranda smoking.

The former officer was rather bitter against the military authorities, as may be supposed, and would not admit that he had put himself in a false position. He thought a hungry hyena might attack a helpless or sleeping man at night, but that neither tiger nor panther could be brought to do it.

They were all talking in loud tones, and the major had just expressed his contempt for all statistics when a tiger left the cover of a bush, under which he must have been crouching for some time, and advanced at a slow trot across open ground directly upon the men on the veranda. His action was so bold that he was taken for a dog.

There were two men on each side of the major, but as the beast came on it leaped upon the veranda, seized the former soldier by the shoulder, and had turned to leap to the ground with him before anyone suspected his identity. Then one man kicked him, and another grabbed him by the tail, while a third broke a chair over his head. The tiger growled, and shook his victim, but would not let go.

When seized, the major cried out: "My God, it's a tiger, and I have been all wrong!"

These were his only words. In a few seconds the beast was galloping off with him. He leaped a ditch six feet wide, sprang over a fence, and after a run of 100 rods over open ground he reached the jungle, and disappeared.

The major's courage no one could gainsay, and that his death should come from the beast he was defending, and for which he had sacrificed a military career, made men feel creepy when they read or listened to the details.


THE END


Roy Glashan's Library
Non sibi sed omnibus
Go to Home Page
This work is out of copyright in countries with a copyright
period of 70 years or less, after the year of the author's death.
If it is under copyright in your country of residence,
do not download or redistribute this file.
Original content added by RGL (e.g., introductions, notes,
RGL covers) is proprietary and protected by copyright.